Yesterday my 10 y.o. unleashed a series of ‘acting out’ behaviors. It started in the morning with a wet bed, went to grumpy and uncooperative during morning chores, and continued downhill with rebellion during schoolwork. I kept my patience with her intact, and offered for her to accompany me to town for the afternoon on some last-minute errands. I tried to engage her in casual conversation as we sang songs while driving, and made our stops along the way.

After 2 hours she seemed ready to start the day over again. When we got home, I had her help me with some dinner prep which went fine. Once she rejoined the other family members for late afternoon chores, little miss pit-bull reappeared and the slippery slope continued. Finally, after all of us enduring her lack of cooperation at meal-time, I sent her to bed early which meant she would miss out on Friday night family fun activities.

As I was preparing for bed, she got up to go to the bathroom, then came and found me in the laundry room. With tear-filled eyes she said “Mommy, I think I know what is wrong.” “What?” I patiently replied. “I have a broken heart” she continued, breaking down into sobs. I held her and just breathed with her. “What gave you a broken heart?” I asked tenderly. “I don’t know” was her only reply.

Sad to say, she really can’t put words to why her heart is broken. At 10, she isn’t emotionally aware enough to analyze her plight in life. She might blame it on little brother picking a fight with her, or big sister being too bossy. What she can’t say is that she misses her birth mom everyday, and has since she last saw her 7 years ago. This is the consequence of the sin of sex outside of marriage, birthing kids out-of-wedlock, and birth parents not properly caring for their own flesh and blood, so others have to do it for them. In the end, it is the innocent children born into such a life that are punished for the sins of their fathers and mothers. Only time, and a huge outpouring of unconditional love by adoptive families, and trusting in the sacrificial love of Christ, can mend that kind of broken heart.

In the meantime, I am clearing my schedule to insure she gets more ‘mom time’ each and every day through the holidays and beyond. My hubby is out-of-town with my older daughter shopping colleges, so it is single parenting for me during the next four days. Thankfully, snow is falling so we’ll stay home, and take life really slow. Broken hearts need a lot of attention and time.